Prime Tanning mural design released

BERWICK, Maine — Berwick Art Association has released the final design for an outdoor mural planned for the Prime Tanning building.

The group chose a design intended to evoke Berwick’s rural past while highlighting efforts to revitalize the downtown. The tannery complex, which employed residents for generations until it closed in 2008, occupies the mural’s center.

“If you boil it down to what they like about the town or want in the future of the town, (most residents) want a downtown but they love the farms and rolling hills,” said Berwick resident Erin Duquette, whose initial design was tweaked to create the final version.

“They would like to keep it rural but still with a community and a downtown with it,” she continued.The mural will be painted on one of the tannery’s exterior wall starting in late June or early July, said Justin Bloom, director of the all-volunteer Berwick Art Association. At 17-feet by 55-feet, it will be visible to motorists crossing into downtown Berwick from Somersworth, N.H. Art association members will paint the mural framework, but locals are invited to add their own voice to the artwork. Roughly 50 two-foot by two-foot blocks will be set aside for residents to customize. The contents of those blocks will be limited only by the color, which must match with the overall design.

“We are going to take those big shapes and let other people … interpret it with own art, their own ideas and their own pieces,” Bloom said.

The tannery complex is owned by Fund of Jupiter LLC, which has authorized the painting. However, the company’s long term plans for the site aren’t clear. Mural organizers acknowledge it’s possible the artwork could be on display for just a few short years.

“It might not be up forever,” Bloom said. “But for us, it’s going to be good to get something there now and to do something there now.”

While the artwork itself represents a vision of Berwick’s past and future, Duquette hopes it will galvanize efforts to inject new energy into the community.

“After the tannery left there was a little bit of a sad vibe,” she said. “We’re hoping (the mural) serves as a signal here that there is still momentum and youth and excitement and that people want to stay here and grow the community back into a thriving place.”

For more information on the mural, or to learn how you can get involved, visit http://berwickartassociation.weebly.com/mural.html.